books.google.com - "For its darkness and its glee, I loved this novel." —Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour BookstoreA high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from the most infamous room in the Bellweather Hotel, in a whip-smart novel sparkling with dark and giddy humorFifteen...https://books.google.com/books/about/Bellweather_Rhapsody.html?id=oONoAwAAQBAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareBellweather Rhapsody

Bellweather Rhapsody

"For its darkness and its glee, I loved this novel." —Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

A high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from the most infamous room in the Bellweather Hotel, in a whip-smart novel sparkling with dark and giddy humor

Fifteen years ago, a murder-suicide in room 712 rocked the grand old Bellweather Hotel and the young bridesmaid who witnessed it, Minnie Graves. Now hundreds of high school musicians, including quiet bassoonist Rabbit Hatmaker and his brassy diva twin, Alice, have gathered in its cavernous, crumbling halls for the annual Statewide festival; Minnie has returned to face her demons; and a colossal snowstorm is threatening to trap them all in the hotel. Then Alice's roommate goes missing—from room 712. The search for her entwines an eccentric cast of characters: conductors and caretakers, failures and stars, teenagers on the verge and adults trapped in memories. For everyone has come to the Bellweather with a secret, and everyone is haunted.

Bellweather Rhapsody is a genre-bending page-turner, full of knowing nods to pop culture classics fromThe Shining to Agatha Christie to Glee. But its pleasures are beautifully deepened by Kate Racculia's skill with her characters, her melancholy, affecting writing about music, and her fearlessness about the loss and darkness that underline the truest humor. This is a wholly winning new novel from a writer to watch.

LibraryThing Review

User Review - alanna1122 - LibraryThing

I really really liked this book. It had a very strong sense of place (which I love). The author had all the details right - the setting (during a statewide music competition) felt real - the dialog ... Read full review

Bellweather Rhapsody

User Review - Nancy H. Fontaine - Book Verdict

It is time for the 1997 Statewide Music Festival at the decrepit Bellweather Hotel in New York's Catskill Mountains. The Hatmaker twins, bassoonist "Rabbit" and his singing-diva sister Alice, are ... Read full review

About the author (2014)

KATE RACCULIA grew up in Syracuse, New York, where she played bassoon in her high school band. She received her MFA from Emerson and is also the author of This Must Be the Place . You can find her at www.kateracculia.com or @kateracculia.